Landfill compacting machines normally use a blade on the front of the vehicle to evenly spread materials being compacted so that the amount of landfill debris or trash is evenly directed under the blade for respective compacting mechanisms to demolish and/or compact. Typically in the past, the blade on the front of the landfill compacting machine is generally straight or a well known U-shape. More recently, a new style of landfill blade assembly has been introduced to the market place. This blade assembly is illustrated and described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,991,662 issued on Feb. 12, 1991 to James O. Caron et al. In this blade arrangement a central enlargement is located centrally on a typical U-blade and extends forwardly of the blade to deflect the soil and/or trash to opposite sides of the centerline of the vehicle's path so that the soil and/or trash is directed under the respective compacting wheels. During operation of the blade in the above-noted patent, it is normal practice to raise the blade above the surface the compacting wheels of the vehicle is traversing in order for soil and/or trash to pass thereunder and be subjected to the respective compacting wheels of the vehicle. Naturally, when the blade is raised to allow material to pass thereunder for compaction by the compacting wheels, there is also material passing under the center of the blade and is not being compacted by the compacting wheels. In the description of the patent noted above, it is described and subsequently claimed that the center protrusion is effective to direct trash away from the center of the blade so that the trash can be more positively directed under the blade and in line with the path of the compacting wheels of the vehicle. However, the working edge of the blade lies generally in a line transversely thereof and the blade is at a level generally equivalent to the level that the wheels are contacting the debris. Consequently, when the blade is raised to some elevated position to allow the trash to pass thereunder for compaction by the wheels, the center portion of the blade protruding forwardly thereof is naturally at a level higher than the remaining portion of the cutting edge since the entire assembly is being pivoted about the connection of the push arms with the vehicle. Therefore, it is questionable if the arrangement set forth in the above noted patent performs the described and claimed function. The problem encountered with such an arrangement and previous arrangements is that the material passing under the blade between the compacting wheels is detrimental to the unprotected components on the bottom of the vehicle. Any material passing under the center of the blade that is contacting components of the vehicle between the compacting wheels causes detrimental wear to those components and at times may become wedged under the vehicle. It is recognized that this problem possibly could be overcome by adding extra protective plates or other items under the vehicle between the compacting wheels but this adds unnecessary cost to the vehicle.
The present invention is directed to overcoming one or more of the problems as set forth above.